New Libyan firm starts exporting crude

State-owned NOC subsidiary Agoco appears to be paying for work at its fields with crude, writes Aydin Calik

A little-known Libyan firm has begun exporting crude, according to sources, official documents and ship-tracking data seen by Argus.

Arkenu Oil, which describes itself as a private oil and gas development and production firm, exported 1mn bl of Sarir/Mesla from the port of Marsa el-Hariga on 10 July on the Zeus, a Suexmax. Shipping agent and port reports list Chinese trading firm Unipec as the charterer. The Zeus' bill of lading lists Libyan state-owned NOC as the sender of the consignment on behalf of Arkenu.

Libyan crude sales have historically been the preserve of NOC and a handful of international oil firms that hold stakes in the country's upstream, including Italy's Eni, TotalEnergies and Austria's OMV. Turkey-based commodities trader BGN, which does not have upstream production in Libya, also regularly appears on loading programmes as a seller of the country's crude.

According to a document dated 10 July, NOC allocated to Arkenu an unspecified share of production from its subsidiary Agoco's Sarir and Mesla fields in return for Arkenu carrying out development work at the sites. This implies that Agoco is paying Arkenu for the work in crude. Arkenu's 1mn bl cargo is worth around $84mn at prevailing market rates, Argus estimates.

Arkenu, set up in early 2023 in the eastern city of Benghazi, says it owns modern drilling rigs and has a team of experts "who have held high positions in major oil production and development companies". It is unclear what work Arkenu has carried out for Agoco. Sarir and Mesla accounted for most of Agoco's roughly 280,000 b/d of output in 2023.

Libya is politically divided between an internationally recognised administration in the west, which has historically controlled oil revenues, and a rival administration in the east, which is home to around three-quarters of the country's production capacity. Agoco is based in the east, and NOC in the west.

Arkenu, NOC and Unipec have been contacted for comment.